Summary
Pituitary adenomas are regarded generally as benign tumours, but some of them can invade the cavernous sinus. On the other hand, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), which is a type IV collagenase, recently has been found to be expressed in matastases and to be related to the invasiveness of various malignant tumours including brain tumours. In order to investigate some characteristic features of pituitary adenomas which invade the cavernous sinus, we examined immunohistological studies for MMP-9 in seven pituitary adenomas for type IV collagen in a dura mater and assayed for type IV collagenase activity in seven adenomas using type IV collagen labelled with fluorescein isothiocyaniate (FITC).
We found immunopositive adenoma cells for MMP-9 in all invasive adenoma and immunopositive spindle like cells for type IV collagen in the dura mater. All three invasive adenomas had high levels of type IV collagenase activity (0.57–0.72 U/ml), but the four adenomas which did not invade the cavernous sinus had low levels of type IV collagenase activity (0.0–0.10 U/ml).
These results suggest that the level of type IV collagenase activity in a pituitary adenoma may be related to its ability to invade the cavernous sinus.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Stetler-Stevenson WG (1990) Type IV collagenase in tumor invasion and metastasis. Cancer Metastasis Rev 9: 289–308
Ballin M, Goweg DE, Sinha CC, Thorgeirsson OP (1988) Ras oncogene mediated induction of a 92 kDa metalloproteinase: strong correlation with the malignant phenotype. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 154: 832–838
Yamagata S, Ito Y, Tanaka R, Shimazu S (1988) Gelatinases of metastatic cell lines of murine colonic carcinoma as detected substrate gel electrophoresis. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 151: 158–162
Yurchenco PD, Ruben GC (1987) Basement membrane structure in situ: evidence for lateral associations in the type IV collagen network. J Cell Biol 105: 2559–2568
Watanabe H, Nakanishi I, Yamashita K, Hayakawa T, Okada Y (1993) Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (92 kDa gelatinase/type IV collagenase) from U937 monoblastoid cells: correlation with cellular invasion. J Cell Sci 104: 991–999
Ennis BW, Matrisian LM (1994) Matrix degrading metalloproteinases. J Neuro Oncol 18: 104–109
De Clerck YA, Shimada H, Gonzalez-Gomez I, Raffel C (1994) Tumor invasion in the central nervous system. J Neuro Oncol 18: 111–121
Rao JS, Steck PA, Tofilon P, Boyd D, Ali-Osman F, Stetler-Stevenson WG, Liotta LA, Sawaya R (1994) Role of plasminogen activator and of 92 kDa type IV collagenase in glioblastoma invasion using an in vitro matrigel model. J Neurooncol 18: 129–138
Selman WR, Laws ER Jr, Scheithauer BW, Carpenter SM (1986) The occurrence of durai invasion in pituitary adenomas. J Neurosurg 64: 402–407
Terato K, Nagai Y, Kawanishi K, Yamamoto S (1976) A rapid assay method of collagenase activity using14C-labelled soluble collagen as substrate. Biochim Biophys Acta 445: 753–762
Nagai Y, Hori H, Hattori T, Sunada T, Terado K, Hashida R, Miyamoto K (1984) A micro-assay method of collagenase activity and its application in the study of collagen metabolism in pathological tissues. Enshou 4 (2): 123–130
Liotta LA, Abe S, Robey PG, Martin GR (1979) Preferential digestion of basement membrane collagen by an enzyme derived from a metastatic murine tumor. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 76: 2268–2272
Liotta LA, Tryggvason K, Garbisa S, Robey PG, Abe S (1981) Partial purification and characterization of a neutral protease which cleaves type IV collagenase. Biochemistry 20: 100–104
Otani Y (1990) The collagenase activities, interstitial collagenase and type IV collagenase, in human stomach cancer: with special reference to local spreading and lymph node metastasis. Keio J Med 39: 159–167
Marbaix E, Donnez J, Courtoy PJ, Eeckhout Y (1992) Progesterone regulates the activity of collagenase and related gelatinases A and B in human endometrial explants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89: 11789–11793
Coudwell WT, Weiss MH (1991) Strategies for the management of nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas. In: Cooper PR (ed) Contemporary diagnosis and management of pituitary adenomas. American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Illinois, pp 29–35
Hirohata T, Uozumi T, Mukada K, Arita K, Kurisu K, Sumida M, Yano T, Takechi A, Onda J (1992) Microprolactinoma invading the cavernous sinus: report of three cases. Neuro Med Chir 32: 10–12
Gerdes J, Lemke H, Baisch H, Wacker HH, Schwab U, Stein H (1984) Cell cycle analysis of a cell proliferation associated human nuclear antigen defined by the monoclonal antibody Ki-67. Immunol 133: 1710–1715
Kitz K, Knosp E, Koos WT, Korn A (1991) Proliferation in pituitary adenomas: measurement by MAb KI 67. Acta Neurochir (Wien) [Suppl] 53: 60–64
Kawamoto H, Uozumi T, Kawamoto K, Arita K, Yano T, Hirohata T (1995) Analysis of the growth rate and cavernous sinus invasion of pituitary adenomas. Acta Neurochir (Wien)
Tsuboi R, Yamaguchi T, Kurita Y, Nakao H, Ogawa H, Ishihara K (1988) Comparison of proteinase activities in squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell epithelioma, and seborrheic keratosis. J Invest Dermatol 90: 869–872
Laquerriere A, Yun J, Hemet JTJ, Tadie M (1993) Experimental evaluation of bilayered human collagen as a durai substitute. J Neurosurg 78: 487–491
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kawamoto, H., Uozumi, T., Kawamoto, K. et al. Type IV collagenase activity and cavernous sinus invasion in human pituitary adenomas. Acta neurochir 138, 390–395 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01420300
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01420300